


Another Scar, Another Story

by Jaakkola



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Blood and Injury, Injury, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Scars, Stitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 22:15:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21260507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaakkola/pseuds/Jaakkola
Summary: "I'm going to need you to take your shirt off.""Why, Master Shaw—""At least take you to dinner first?"





	Another Scar, Another Story

**Author's Note:**

> slow day for the jerky business, so here's what i wrote. sorry evan.
> 
> all my fairshaw fics can be summed up by Shaw internally going "oh no i love him" but goddamn that's not going to stop me from writing it again.

"How bad is it?" Fairwind asked, breaking the silence with a pained tone. He and Shaw were hidden in an alcove in Tiragarde Sound, the sun beginning a slow descent towards the horizon. His coat was abandoned behind him as Shaw investigated his injury.

It wasn't pretty, a shot with azerite gunpowder clipped Fairwind's side, leaving a nasty wound. It was in need of either a healer or stitches, and Shaw wasn't a healer. "You'll live," Shaw said as he finished cleaning the wound, his cloth that was usually used for poisons now soaked with Fairwind's choice of poison. "For once, you and your alcoholism comes in handy."

As if he was reminded, Fairwind took a drink from his flask. He turned his head with a grimace, looking to Shaw as he pulled out a needle and thread. "Where were you keeping that?" Fairwind asked.

"My pocket?"

"You have _pockets_ in that ridiculous get-up?"

"I have more pockets than you do, Captain." Fairwind had only the most bewildered look across his face as a response, and Shaw could see the gears working as he tried to conceive where his pockets were. "I'm going to need you to take your shirt off." Shaw said, trying to keep things moving.

"Why, Master Shaw—"

"At least take you to dinner first?"

Fairwind visibly deflated, and with a grumble, he gingerly pulled off his shirt. He sucked in a harsh breath as he carefully pulled his shirt over the wound at his side and over his head.

Shaw didn't know entirely what he expected from Fairwind's bare upper body, but all the scars were definitely a surprise. Across sun-kissed skin, several poorly done tattoos, and muscle built from over a decade of rigging and sailing, were an uncountable amount of pale marks in several varieties. Most notable were the dozens of large pale lines of scar tissue that covered Fairwind's back. "You've lived a busy life." Shaw absently commented as he threaded the needle.

"Hm?" Fairwind looked to Shaw.

"You have quite the history written across your skin."

Fairwind looked confused.

"The scars."

"Oh!" Fairwind seemed to perk up before remembering that he had an open wound and shouldn't be moving so ecstatically. With a wince, he took a deep breath before continuing. Jamming a thumb behind him, he said, "that looks worse than it is. Really only got flogged twice."

Ah, that made sense. "Pirates flog?" Shaw asked as he started taking care of Fairwind's wound.

"Aye." Fairwind said with a hiss, taking another drink.

"What did you do that get on the bad side of a pirates?"

"You want the list?"

Shaw humphed. "Poor phrasing on my part, but you know what I mean."

Shaw could see the grin Fairwind cracked from the corner of his eye. "I wasn't exactly the most well-behaved bloke at first."

"I can hardly believe it."

"I know, I've reformed so well." Fairwind took a sharp breath and did his best not to flinch away from Shaw's touch. "Ah, easy there, mate."

"This is as easy as it is going to get."

Fairwind took a drink with a wince, cursing under his breath. There's several moments of silence before Fairwind remembered they were talking about something. "Oh, anyway, some quartermasters got _real mad_ if you throw a punch at someone, even if they deserve it."

"You got flogged for starting a fight?"

Fairwind held up two fingers in response. _Twice._ "Forty lashes less one for the second time, full punishment for a repeated offense. It was a right miracle I didn't die."

"You seem to have luck on your side more often than not," Shaw said.

Fairwind chuckled. "Luck's a bastard thing. If luck was on my side, I wouldn't have been hurt in the first place, now would I?"

A peculiar view, Shaw thought as he focused. Fairwind always seemed to be a man that played the odds, regardless if they were in his favor or not. To hear him speak of luck with a slight scorn was a surprise. "Gives you a good story to tell."

"I'm sure you got better ones," Fairwind said. A verbal invite for Shaw to open up as well.

"Sorry to disappoint, Captain, but I don't have many scars." Not a total lie; up until a couple years ago, Shaw could count all his scars on one hand. His hand wavered for a moment with the sudden and unintended reminder of what happened during the Burning Legion's third invasion. Shaw willed his hand steady.

"Really?" Fairwind asked, not exactly in disbelief. "Suppose it makes sense with your line of work."

Shaw was not much of a storyteller, not in the same way Fairwind was. He had this seemingly innate ability to make a story intriguing, even about things that were dull. Fairwind could manage to make a story about the muck that stained his boots into something amusing. He pointed to his pant leg, tapping above the knee, saying, "I got dared fifty gold to juggle three loaded pistols for three minutes. shot myself right through my leg two minutes in and still managed to finish and get my gold."

Fairwind reached a hand to his right shoulder, a finger tracing scar tissue. "I had one sanctioned fight in my life. Bloody bastard hated my guts and after getting the full force of the Captain's Daughter, I wasn't about to get in another unsanctioned fight."

"The Captain's Daughter?" Shaw echoed.

Fairwind made a vague gesture with his hand. "The flogging thing."

Shaw hummed with understanding. Pirates had strange names for things.

"Anyway, y'know how they settle fights on pirate ships?" Fairwind didn't wait for a response. "You all go out to land, the quartermaster gives you both a knife, and you fight to the death. He got my shoulder well, had to fight with my left hand. He was all bark and no bite though."

"Did you do anything other than get into fights and take dangerous bets?" Shaw asked as he tied the thread into a knot.

"Well, yeah, but those aren't good stories." Fairwind took a deep, strained breath. "How is it?"

"It'll keep you from bleeding out," Shaw sighed. He looked up to Fairwind, seeing the weariness across his face. "Can you walk?"

Fairwind took in a slow breath. "Just need to sit for a moment." Shaw nodded in response, wiping his bloodied hands off with his rag. He looked over Fairwind, examining the pale marks that clashed against tanned skin. Another scar would be joining the rest soon, another story to tell. 

He let the silence grow between the two, not at all surprised when Fairwind broke it by turning to Shaw and saying, "you really don't have any scars?"

"Not many," Shaw corrected.

Fairwind took a drink from his flask, and then offered it to Shaw. Shaw didn't take it. "What's your worst one?"

That was a question with many different answers. The one that Shaw couldn't look at without bad memories being dredged up? The one that took up the most of his skin? The one that he shouldn't have survived from? He thought in silence. "When I was eleven, I slipped from a rooftop," Shaw settled on. "The length of my left leg was torn up in the two story fall."

Fairwind sucked in a sympathetic breath, bringing his flask back. "Sounds rough."

"I'm not a prideful man, but the walk back to the guildhall was certainly humbling."

Flynn gave a light laugh in response. "All the other kids make fun of you?"

"All the other _adults._ I was the youngest one at the time."

"Oh, that's harsh."

"Like I said, it was humbling." It was nothing more than an anecdote now, but Shaw remembered how badly he burned from embarrassment while getting stitches for essentially tripping. "What's yours?"

"Oh, that's easy." Fairwind reached a hand up to his chest, fingertips finding a somewhat large scar, just a bit left to the heart, standing out from the chest hair. "If you look hard, you can find another scar like this on my backside. Was stabbed right through."

That made Shaw clench his jaw in a way he wasn't anticipating, nor had the capabilities of accessing why at that moment. "What happened?"

This story didn't come out as easily for Fairwind. "Had a mate, we were real close. Thought I could trust 'em, you know how it goes." He shrugged, and Shaw could tell he was being vague because the wound still hurt. Shaw knew the feeling.

"Yeah, I do."

"You get stabbed through the lung too?"

Shaw gave a slight laugh. "That almost sounds preferable to what actually happened." It at least would have made what Shaw had to do easier.

"What, did they kill your family or something?"

"That's classified, Captain."

"That's not a no."

Shaw rolled his eyes. "No, he didn't kill my family, but it is still classified."

"Did he steal your favorite dagger?"

"No."

"Threw your cat in the canal?"

"Fairwind," Shaw warned, but there was no real heat to it. Fairwind just gave Shaw a satisfied grin, one that made the corners of Shaw's mouth turn up as well. Curse this man. "We need to get going, get your shirt on."

"And here I thought you were admiring my physique." Fairwind's grin grew to cocky, flexing his arms to show off the results of years of hard labor.

Hm, Shaw should have made sure that he was more discreet about that sort of thing. He didn't think Fairwind was paying attention. "Just trying to figure out how you managed to live this long with that many injuries," he deflected.

Fairwind pulled his shirt over his head, saying, "Funny, I had an ex that said the same thing once."

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact of the day: shaw's voice actor is in riverdale and also did fourteen dairy queen commercials. enjoy that knowledge like i do.
> 
> find me at turalyfun on tumblr where i post memes about these two.


End file.
